Polio threatens 74 million

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The largest epidemic of polio in recent years has broken out in Nigeria and is spreading across central and western Africa, threatening 74 million children with the paralysing disease and jeopardising hopes of eradicating it from the world by the end of the year.

In the state of Kano in Nigeria, the centre of the outbreak, doubt over vaccine safety has led to the suspension of immunisation, and 257 children have been paralysed by the disease, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday. Polio is now being exported to neighbouring countries, including Sudan, where a child in Darfur has been infected by the Nigerian strain of the virus.

There are now 22 countries affected, 10 of which had no polio last year.

"It has spread as far south as the Central African Republic, so it is on the border with the Congo, which has been one of the great successes of the polio eradication program," said Bruce Aylward, the global co-ordinator of the WHO-led program.

"We're seeing five times the number of cases in west and central Africa that we did last year - 301 as opposed to 58. We could see thousands of children paralysed across west and central Africa at a time when the virus should be eradicated. The countries it is spreading into have very weak immunisation programs, reaching only 50 per cent."

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Kul Gautam, deputy director of UNICEF, said the Darfur case was "the latest tragedy to hit children in a region beset with multiple tragedies. It is unthinkable that mothers have fled to avoid atrocities only to find their children at danger from a virus that Sudan had eradicated.

"Too many children across the region are defenceless against the disease. We are on the verge of a totally unnecessary public health tragedy. This has all the potential to become a humanitarian crisis."

The program plans a huge synchronised immunisation drive across 22 African countries in October and November, which will require $US100 million ($A146 million) over two years. Since 1988, more than $US3 billion has been raised and spent on attempts to rid the world of polio.

Britain announced yesterday that it would make immediately available this year's £14 million ($A37 billion) contribution to eradicating polio.

In Kano, polio immunisation was suspended last year after religious leaders claimed the vaccine would make women sterile and rumours spread that it was a Western plot to reduce the number of Muslims. David Heymann, WHO representative on the eradication program, said that the epidemic in Kano meant that most people now wanted their children immunised. WHO experts said it was not possible to stop travel between Nigeria and its neighbours. The three most heavily reinfected countries are Chad, Niger and Ivory Coast.